The Alaska state constitution provides the legislature with just one responsibility each year—to pass a budget. It’s took a little longer than we all had hoped, but I’m happy to say we did it. I’m looking forward to coming home to Anchorage and seeing a lot more of all of you this summer.
Budget Update
We’ve got a deal.
After several days of brinksmanship and a one-day special session, the respective majorities of the House and Senate have agreed on a budget for FY 2024. The budget is balanced, invests an additional $175 million in K-12 education, and makes incremental investments in a variety of important public programs—money for Chugach State Park maintenance and operations, money for senior independent living, funding for childcare programs, and more. I voted for it, and given the limited revenues we have, this budget strikes a reasonable compromise between providing robust public services and paying out a significant PFD. With that said, our lack of revenue has big consequences for every Alaskan.
The largest casualty of those limited revenues was the permanent fund dividend. This budget includes a PFD of only $1300. Many of my colleagues see that amount as an appropriate payout. I see things differently. I see, relative to last year, $2500 coming out of each of my constituents’ pockets. That’s real money for folks struggling to make rent, get a car fixed, pay for childcare. This is the least equitable way to pay for state services, and that’s an economic crisis of its own that too often gets ignored.
That’s why it’s so important that we come together around generating new revenues. We have a variety of options before us to generate that revenue—a half dozen or so proposals are sitting in the Ways and Means Committee—we simply lack a House majority willing to choose. It’s disappointing, really.
It’s disappointing that without new revenues, we can’t share the wealth of Alaska’s resources directly with the people.
It’s disappointing that without new revenues, Alaska will continue to come up short in providing enough support for those who need it with assistance for childcare, food security, and healthcare.
It’s disappointing that every year we go without new revenues, another class of Alaskan kindergarteners arrive to larger class sizes, deteriorating school facilities, diminished offerings in arts and athletics, and teachers with less and less support.
Many of my colleagues in the majority, when they were in the minority last year or campaigning for office, promised to pay out big dividends with current revenue streams by cutting what they see as a bloated state budget. And yet, given the opportunity this year, the Republican majority couldn’t find anywhere to make any significant budget cuts. In fact, they delivered a budget with a deficit they hoped to fill with our already diminished savings. In Unfortunately our state government has already been hollowed out by a decade year of budget cuts and flat funding, with only punctuated relief.
I’m hopeful that, having realized the responsibility of governing, the Majority will hear us and recognize that we can’t cut our way out of this hole. We need for new revenue if anyone wants their priorities addressed.
